The invention relates to a furniture hinge for pivotally mounting a door leaf to a cupboard body, whose door-side front is narrowed by a frame that projects inwardly at a right angle to the side walls and is formed by strip-like frame elements. In a closed position, the frame overlaps at least partially with the inside of the door leaf. The furniture hinge further includes a hinge arm made of sheet metal and having on the side of the cupboard body a mounting plate which can be releaseably secured in superposition with a fastening plate disposed on the free end face facing away from the side wall of the frame element of the frame. At least one slot-like elongated through opening extending in the longitudinal direction of the front face of the frame element is provided in the mounting plate and in the fastening plate, through which the shank of a fastening screw may be screwed into the frame element. When the fastening screw is unscrewed, the fastening plate is held so as to be moveable in the longitudinal direction of the front face of the frame element, and the mounting plate is held so as to be moveable perpendicular thereto in the transverse direction of the front face of the fastening plate.
Hinges intended for cupboards with an inwardly projecting frame are typically mounted on the body side with a mounting plate that can be screwed onto the free front face facing away from the side wall of the inwardly projecting frame element. The width of the mounting plate can be approximately identical to the width of the front face of the frame element and form a part of a fastening plate, on which the actual hinge support arm that forms the body-side plate of the hinge can be adjustably attached. Alternatively, the mounting plate can also be an integral part of the hinge arm. To allow height adjustment of the door leaf hinged to the cupboard body after installation, the openings provided in the mounting plate for the fastening screw are typically formed as slots, so that—when the fastening screws are unscrewed—the height of the door leaf can be adjusted within the length range of the slots. The mounting plate is then fixed at the new set height of the door leaf by tightening the fastening screw. The position of the door leaf relative to the front side of the frame element of the cupboard body in the horizontal direction, i.e., the gap spacing between the inside of the door leaf and the front side of the frame element, can then typically no longer be changed, because such adjustment is intentionally prevented by folded-back tabs provided on the front end of the edge of the mounting plate that is connected to the supporting arm, wherein the tabs contact the front side or backside of the respective frame element.
In an improved furniture hinge as compared to older hinges of the aforedescribed type (DE 196 50 062 A1), the gap spacing can be further adjusted by securing the mounting plate that supports the hinge support arm on a separate height-adjustable fastening plate, which is mounted on the frame element in a conventional manner, with a slot for displacement in the transverse direction. The exclusive adjustability in the longitudinal direction of the end face of the frame element is again achieved by guiding the fastening plate on the front and rear side of the frame element and by a slot penetrated by the shank of the fastening screw and by having the support arm displaceable relative to the fastening plate by guides provided in the mounting plate in the displacement direction of the fastening plate. An opening for the shank of the fastening screw is also provided in the mounting plate, which is sized, on one hand, so as to allow the height adjustment and, on the other hand, has a large enough width in the transverse direction so as to enable the desired change in the gap spacing between the inside of the door leaf and the front side of the frame. To lock the adjusted position of the hinge, the head of a tightened fastening screw urges the fastening and mounting plate into contact with one another and into contact with the end face of the frame element. If the setting needs to be changed, then the fastening screw has to be unscrewed, which again allows adjustment in the two coordinate directions. For example, when only the gap spacing of a mounted hinge needs to be adjusted, then it may not be possible to maintain the—actually correct—height setting due to the weight of the door leaf.